Variability of DNA fingerprint in a Japanese population.

To estimate the forensic usefulness of the DNA fingerprint produced by a synthesized minisatellite probe "Myo", the variability of the DNA fingerprint was examined in a Japanese population. Pairwise comparisons of the fragments in the DNA fingerprints showed that 15 fragments on average longer than 4.4 kilobases with a mean fragment sharing probability of 0.19 appeared in a typical DNA fingerprint and the distribution of matches of the fragments was found to be binominal. Therefore, the probability of chance association between random individuals can be calculated to (0.19)15 = 1.5 x 10(-11). It seems reasonable to conclude that the DNA fingerprint is completely individual-specific.